Rivertown seniors development in 2nd phase

Presbyterian Villages of Michigan is in the midst of the second phase of development of Rivertown Neighborhood. An independent living apartment building (upper left) is under construction and expected to be completed in July. PVM plans to begin renovating an existing building on the site to provide an alternative to nursing home care.

Presbyterian Villages of Michigan is in the second phase of development at its $43.5 million Rivertown Neighborhood near Detroit's east riverfront.

After opening an affordable assisted living complex in one of two former Parke-Davis manufacturing facilities on the Detroit campus last spring, Southfield-based PVM and Chelsea-based United Methodist Retirement Communities Inc. began construction of a $7.5 million independent senior apartment building in the fall. The four-story, 50-unit building, which is just under 50,000 square feet, is expected to open in July.

The development, and existing Rivertown complex, is at McDougall Avenue and Franklin Street, two streets south of Jefferson Avenue.

PVM President and CEO Roger Myers

"The demand for that building has been the greatest we've ever seen," said PVM President and CEO Roger Myers.

More than 300 people have expressed interest in living there, but PVM won't begin taking applications until late March, he said.

With a $2 million grant from the Baltimore-based Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation in hand, PVM is getting ready to begin renovations on a second existing building on the site in August.

The 20,000-square-foot building, adjacent to the assisted living center, will be home to the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Green Houses on its upper floors. An alternative to nursing home care, the houses will provide a home-like setting, with 10-12 private rooms for senior citizens, a communal kitchen and living areas, social programming and 24-hour nursing care. PVM plans to put a cafe on the ground floor.

The goal is to open the houses and community cafe by late 2015 or early 2016, contingent on PVM's ability to raise the final $2.5 million needed to fund the second-phase projects, Myers said.

The total cost of the second phase is projected to be $13 million, Myers said.

As part of the new developments, PVM also plans to create additional parking to the north of the campus and a garden and park area — the Rivergarden Community Park — on property leased from the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources, Myers said. The hope is to complete at least part of the park this summer. The park will be just south of the Rivertown development on the grounds of the UAW center.

"We really see this Rivergarden as being an asset, a resource for the surrounding area even though it focuses on the Rivertown neighborhood," Myers said, noting conversations with the Detroit RiverFront Conservancy are already underway to look for ways to tie in Riverwalk programming with the new park.

The second-phase projects are part of a $43.5 million senior community development that's been four years in the making. A $2 million grant from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan from the Detroit Neighborhood Fund provided seed money for the project.

Other sources of funding for the first phase included Detroit, Wayne County, the state and federal governments, the Masco Corp. Foundation, the Kresge Foundation and the Weinberg Foundation with another $250,000 grant, brownfield tax credits and low-income housing tax credits.

Subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the assisted living apartments are fully occupied by 80 low-income seniors. PVM worked jointly with UMRC on the assisted living piece of the project and with Henry Ford Health System on the Center for Senior Independence, a health and wellness center located on the first floor. The center provides health and wellness care to seniors living in the surrounding neighborhoods with transportation to the center.

Also in the building: a pharmacy, beauty salon and large commercial kitchen for meal preparation for residents.

Job creation was always a big part of PVM looking at the investment being made, in addition to serving the elders, Myers said. PVM projects that the community, when complete, will create more than 200 full-time jobs, ranging from doctors, nurses, therapists, resident aides, food service and other service staff members, he said. So far, 110 jobs have been created through the affordable assisted living facility and Center for Senior Independence.The community is expected to provide housing for more than 150 senior citizens and to serve an additional 600 through the health and wellness center, café, salon and river garden, said Paul Miller, president of the Presbyterian Villages of Michigan Foundation.

The Rivertown Neighborhood is a very strong anchor on the near-east side of Detroit, said Mariam Noland, president of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

The community keeps elderly people in Detroit in a safe environment and makes "first-class services" available to low-income residents, she said.

With the Weinberg Foundation grant, the project has been able to attract national foundation dollars, Noland said, and could be replicated in other places.